


Terror

by Port



Series: Rarely Frightened [2]
Category: Gargoyles (Cartoon)
Genre: Collection: Purimgifts Day 2, Gen, world tour
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2019-03-17
Updated: 2019-03-17
Packaged: 2019-11-22 22:09:38
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 785
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/18142598
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/Port/pseuds/Port
Summary: Elisa makes the mistake of falling asleep.





	Terror

**Author's Note:**

  * For [fenellaevangela](https://archiveofourown.org/users/fenellaevangela/gifts).



> Chag Purim Sameach!

Hours ago, the gargoyles had turned to stone right on the skiff. Talking about ghost stories and how Elisa and Goliath had met had distracted them all from the fact that they didn’t seem to be going anywhere yet, but as the sky lightened and no current came to move them, Goliath had became pensive.

Elisa rubbed his arm. “Don’t worry, I’ll make sure we’re all together when you wake up.”

Goliath put his hand on her shoulder. “I trust you. This journey is simply stranger than most. I don’t know why Avalon hasn’t brought us to land yet.”

Behind them, Angela had her back turned politely, something she did often. It made Elisa feel wistful, and it made it harder for her to resist pulling Goliath’s head down for a comforting kiss. The impulse was there--it was often there--but so was the knowledge that they could never be, and she resisted the impulse. She patted his arm instead.

The sky continued to lighten, and her friends turned to stone.

“It would have been nice to get a better handle on this situation in the daylight,” Elisa muttered to herself an hour later. In every direction, fog obscured the view, and up above clouds made it hard to even see the position of the sun. “I’m just as blind as we all were last night.”

She put down the oar and let the skiff get back to drifting aimlessly. “You hear me, Avalon? Don’t forget we’re out here!” 

Her voice didn’t even echo in this strange place on the open water. She sat on the floor of the skiff and settled up close to Goliath’s kneeling form. At least the elements weren’t out to get them like they had been at other stops. She yawned, thinking of Goliath’s storytelling voice and Hudson’s tree. She closed her eyes.

~~~

Elisa fell. One moment, the ground supported her, but then it gave way. Cold air rushed past her ears, whistled between her outstretched fingers, chapped her lips. She heard her own voice as she had never heard it before, crying out, not quite an endless scream. She never screamed, but she had never fallen either.

It went on and on. She plummeted in the dark, the lights of her city a blur whenever she opened her eyes against the sting of the air. Her ears popped. Soon she would be a street pancake, like the poor people who jumped off ledges or fell from overcrowded balconies. Her colleagues would notify her parents.

She fell and fell, twisting in the air. It took forever, and every moment grew worse than the last, until she felt she would break apart bit by bit from the force of the air against her body.

~~~

Elisa woke, gasping. She sat forward, wiped sweat from her face, felt rawness in her throat.

“What just happened?” she asked, finding herself out of breath.

It was still hazy daylight. The gargoyles were still safe, kneeling in stone around and above her. Elisa indulged herself in pressing against Goliath’s side, the closest thing to comfort she would clearly be getting for some time.

Telling Angela the story of meeting her father must have brought back the memory of Elisa’s first time falling. It had been terrifying at the time, though in the dream it had taken longer and no one had caught her. She knew she was falling to her death, just as she had thought when she had backed off the tower that night. 

Ever since then, even though it was cocky of her, she knew the gargoyles would catch her if she fell.

“Which makes that officially my weirdest dream ever,” Elisa mused. Still feeling unsettled, she splashed some water in her face. Her reflection in the still water off the side of the boat was wavery, but still looked tired around the eyes and pale. She was weighing the advantages of getting more sleep against the possibility of more nightmares when a long arm plunged up through her reflection and grabbed her shoulder.

The surprise of it made her slow to react, but when the arm pulled her forward, Elisa pushed backwards, trying to break its grip before it could yank her into the water. The skiff pitched back and forth as she struggled. The person pulling her from underwater had better momentum, and Elisa felt herself losing the battle. She could hang on to the skiff, but the way it was rocking scared her; she couldn’t let the gargoyles fall into the water, where they would certainly drown when they woke up.

She gave in and let herself be pulled down into the dark. There wasn't even time to be afraid.


End file.
